George W. Bush's military service began in 1968 when he
enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating with a bachelor's
degree in history from Yale University. The aircraft that he was ultimately
trained to fly was the
F-102 Delta
Dagger. The F-102 may have been old but was far from useless, and it
continued to serve proudly with both Air Force and Air National Guard units
well into the 1970s. Furthermore, the F-102 was deployed to Vietnam
throughout most of the conflict, and the aircraft proved its value early by
deterring North Vietnamese pilots from straying across the border. Perhaps
more importantly, the F-102 and its Air National Guard pilots performed a
vital role in defending the continental United States from nuclear attack.

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F-102 Delta Dagger

Internal weapons bays on the F-102 Delta Dagger

F-102 of the 111th FIS of the Texas ANG

Rows of F-102 fighters stationed at Tan Son Nhut in
Vietnam in 1969

Camouflaged F-102 interceptors on patrol
over South Vietnam

The F-102 was
a supersonic second
generation fighter designed in the early 1950s for the US Air Force. The
primary mission of the aircraft was to intercept columns of Soviet nuclear
bombers attempting to reach targets in the US and destroy them with
air-to-air missiles. The technologies incorporated into the aircraft were
state-of-the-art for the day. The F-102 set many firsts, including the first
all-weather delta-winged combat aircraft, the first fighter capable of
maintaining supersonic speed in level flight, and the first interceptor to
have an armament entirely of missiles. Among the many innovations
incorporated into the design were the use of the area
rule to reduce aerodynamic drag and an advanced electronic fire control
system capable of guiding the aircraft to a target and automatically
launching its missiles.

The F-102 made its first flight in 1953
and entered service with the Air Defense Command (ADC) in 1956. About 1,000
Delta Daggers were built, and although eventually superseded by the related
F-106 Delta
Dart, the F-102 remained one of the most important aircraft in the ADC
through the mid-1960s. At its peak, the aircraft made up over half of the
interceptors operated by the ADC and equipped 32 squadrons across the
continental US. Additional squadrons were based in western Europe, the
Pacific, and Alaska.

As the 1960s continued, many of these
aircraft were transferred from the US Air Force to Air National Guard (ANG)
units. More than 500 Delta Daggers would eventually serve with 23 ANG units
across the US, including squadrons in Arizona, California, Connecticut,
Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New York,
North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Because of thier important role
in defending North America, these ANG units came under direct authority of
the ADC itself and were considered a vital component of the Air Force's
strategy to defend the US.

One of the primary ANG units to receive
the F-102 was the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) at Ellington Air
National Guard Station, which operated the aircraft from 1960 through 1974.
These planes were given responsibility for patrolling the Gulf Coast and
intercepting Soviet aircraft based in Cuba that regularly flew off the US
shore to test American defenses. The 111th was and still is part of the 147th Fighter Wing
in Houston, Texas. It was here that George W. Bush was stationed following
his enlistment in May 1968.

The Air National Guard has often been
ridiculed as a safe place for military duty during the Vietnam War. However,
pilots from the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, as it was called at the
time, were actually conducting combat missions in Vietnam when Bush
enlisted. Air Force F-102 squadrons had been stationed in Thailand since
1961 and South Vietnam since March 1962. It was during this time that the
Kennedy administration began building up a large US military presence in the
region as a deterrent against North Vietnamese invasion.

USAF F-102 squadrons continued to be
stationed in both nations throughout most of the Vietnam War. The planes
were typically used for fighter defense patrols and as escorts for
B-52 bomber
raids. The F-102 was considered one of the most useful air defense aircraft
in theater because it had the fastest response time of any fighter stationed
in South Vietnam.

While the F-102 had few opportunities to
engage in its primary role of air combat, the aircraft was used in the close
air support role starting in 1965. Armed with unguided rockets, Delta
Daggers would make attacks on Viet Cong encampments in an attempt to harass
enemy soldiers. Amazingly, some missions were even conducted using the
aircraft's heat-seeking air-to-air missiles to lock onto enemy campfires at
night. Though the F-102 had not been designed for this type of combat,
pilots did often report secondary explosions coming from their targets. An
Aviation Week article of the period credited the 509th FIS, an F-102
squadron stationed in Vietnam, with destroying 106 buildings, damaging 59
more, sinking 16 sampans, and destroying one bridge during 199 sorties over
the course of 45 days.

These missions were also dangerous, given
the risks inherent to low-level attacks against armed ground troops. A total
of 15 F-102 fighters were lost in Vietnam. Three were shot down by
anti-aircraft or small arms fire, one was lost in air-to-air combat with a
MiG-21,
four were destroyed on the ground during Viet Cong mortar attacks, and the
remainder succumbed to accidents.

Such accidents were quite common even in
peacetime conditions, which is not unusual for military aircraft whose
pilots risk their lives on every flight. ANG members of the period who we've
been able to locate indicate that only highly qualified pilot candidates
were accepted for Delta Dagger training because it was such a challenging
aircraft to fly and left little room for mistakes. According to the Air
Force Safety Center, the lifetime Class A accident rate for the F-102 was
13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, and the rate was especially high
during the early years of the plane's service.

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The Lockheed S-3 Viking is a jet aircraft originally used by the United
States Navy to identify, track, and destroy enemy submarines. In the late
1990s, the S-3B's mission focus shifted to surface warfare and aerial
refueling.

This poor safety record may have been due
in part to a deadly flaw in the aircraft's design that caused an engine
stall and loss of control under a certain combination of
angle of attack and airspeed frequently encountered during takeoff.
According to a former F-102 pilot we've interviewed, this problem caused the
plane to roll inverted and resulted in several fatal crashes. Numerous
accidents were also encountered during landing because of the plane's high
angle of attack and airspeed that reduced the pilot's visibility and
reaction time. These factors have traditionally been two of the primary
disadvantages of delta wing aircraft and explain why the pure delta wing
design was later abandoned. Today's delta wing aircraft are typically
equipped with leading
edge extensions or canards that improve safety and performance. Luckily,
F-102 operators overcame these deficiencies thanks to good pilot training
and control lockouts that prevented the plane from reaching extreme
conditions, and the F-102 went on to become one of the safer fighters of its
day.

Regardless, the F-102 was still far more
dangerous to fly than today's combat aircraft. Compared to the F-102's
lifetime accident rate of 13.69, today's planes generally average around 4
mishaps per 100,000 hours. For example, compare the
F-16 at
4.14, the F-15
at 2.47, the F-117 at 4.07, the S-3 at 2.6,
and the F-18
at 4.9. Even the Marine Corps' AV-8B,
regarded as the most dangerous aircraft in US service today, has a lifetime
accident rate of only 11.44 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102
claimed the lives of many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington
during Bush's tenure. Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered
service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.

Nevertheless, we have established that the
F-102 was serving in combat in Vietnam at the time Bush enlisted to become
an F-102 pilot. Air National Guard pilots from the 147th FIG, where Bush was
stationed, even served combat duty in Vietnam routinely under a volunteer
program called "Palace Alert" from 1968 to 1970. Palace Alert was an Air
Force program that sent qualified F-102 pilots from the ANG to bases in
Europe or southeast Asia for three to six months of frontline service. This
program was instituted because the Air Force lacked sufficient pilots of its
own for duty in Vietnam but was unable to activate ANG units since
Presidents Johnson and Nixon had decided not to do so for political reasons.
Thanks to Palace Alert, the Air Force was able to transfer much-needed
National Guard pilots to Vietnam on a voluntary basis while not actually
activating any ANG squadrons.

Fred Bradley, a friend of Bush's who was
also serving in the Texas ANG, reported that he and Bush inquired about
participating in the Palace Alert program. However, the two were told by a
superior, MAJ Maurice Udell, that they were not yet qualified since they
were still in training and did not have the 500 hours of flight experience
required. Furthermore, ANG veteran COL William Campenni, who was a fellow
pilot in the 111th FIS at the time, told the
Washington Times that Palace Alert was winding down and not accepting
new applicants.

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TF-102 trainer

F-102 Delta Dagger and F-101 Voodoo
interceptors of the Texas ANG

After being accepted into the ANG, Airman
Basic Bush was selected to attend pilot training even though his test scores
were the lowest acceptable for that position. His six weeks of basic
training was completed at Lackland AFB in Texas during July and August of
1968. Upon its completion, Bush was promoted to the officer's rank of second
lieutenant required for pilot candidates. He spent the next year in flight
school at Moody AFB in Georgia from November 1968 to November 1969. The
aircraft Lt. Bush trained aboard were the T-41 Mescelero propeller-driven
basic trainer, T-37 Tweet primary jet trainer, and possibly the
T-38 Talon
advanced jet trainer. Bush ranked 22 out of 53 students in his flight school
class with a grade of 88 on total airmanship. His scores included 100 for
flying without navigational instruments, 89 in flight planning, and 98 in
aviation physiology. Bush also completed two weeks of survival training
during this period.

Bush then returned to Ellington in Texas
to complete seven months of combat crew training on the F-102 from December
1969 to June 1970. This period included five weeks of training on the T-33
Shooting Star and 16 weeks aboard the TF-102 Delta Dagger two-seat trainer
and finally the single-seat F-102A. Bush graduated from the training program
in June 1970. The previously mentioned Maurice Udell was a flight instructor
for Lt. Bush who was interviewed by the
Associated Press in February 2004. MAJ Udell recalled that Bush was one
of his best students saying that, "I'd rank him in the top five percent."

Click on Picture to enlarge

George W. Bush during his service with the Air National
Guard

As Bush was completing his training and
being certified as a qualified pilot, there was always the possibility that
the ANG might be mobilized in order to send F-102 squadrons to Vietnam.
However, the F-102 had originally been stationed in that theater to guard
against the possibility of air attack from the North, a danger that never
materialized since North Vietnamese pilots refused to stray south of the
border and outside their own protective SAM barrier. This lack of a threat
prompted the Air Force to gradually withdraw the F-102 from southeast Asia
beginning in December 1969 and concluding in May 1971. The F-102 was instead
returned to its primary role of providing air defense for the United States.
This vital mission had been almost entirely transferred to the ANG by that
time since the Air Force had become increasingly tasked with its overseas
responsibilities in Europe and Asia.

Ellington, where Bush was stationed, has
remained a National Guard air defense base until the present day. In the
early 1970s, however, the facility also took on a secondary duty as the only
training base for all F-102 pilots in the ANG, including some 15 or so
squadrons at the time. Lt. Bush remained in the Texas ANG as a certified
F-102 pilot who participated in frequent drills and alerts through April of
1972. It appears that he remained on air defense alert since he did not meet
the minimum of 1,000 flying hours needed to become an F-102 pilot
instructor. Bush had over 600 flight hours when he left the Guard, but only
278 of these were aboard the F-102 and TF-102.

Click on Picture to enlarge

Wreckage of an F-102 destroyed by enemy
fire in Vietnam

By this time, the 147th Fighter Wing was
also beginning to phase out the F-102 in the air defense role in favor of
F-101B and F-101F two-seat long-range interceptors. As the Ellington F-102
fleet was transitioned to training ANG pilots from other units or retired
from service, the F-101 took its place as the primary air defense fighter
for the Texas ANG. The base received its first F-101 in May 1971 and its
final F-102 was retired in August 1974. The F-102 remained in use with
several other units until 1976 when the 199th FIS of the Hawaii ANG finally
concluded the long and proud service of "the Deuce," as it was
affectionately known.

Bush was honorably discharged from the Air
National Guard in October 1973 at the rank of first lieutenant. An ANG
physical dated 15 May 1971 indicates that he had logged 625 flight hours by
that time, and he ultimately completed 326 hours as pilot and 10 as co-pilot
while serving with the 111th FIS in Texas. In the fall of 1973, Bush began
coursework at the Harvard Business School where he received an MBA in 1975.

This article has
relied on a number of print sources and first-hand accounts.
Particularly informative in describing the history and military service
of the F-102 Delta Dagger has been the fantastic book Century Jets: USAF
Frontline Fighters of the Cold War and its 65 page article entitled "Convair
F-102 Delta Dagger" by Robert F. Dorr. Other sources that provided
background information as well as interesting details include The
Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft by David Donald, ed., Convair
F-102 Delta Dagger by Wayne Mutza, and David Isby's Jane's Fighter
Combat in the Jet Age. Another superb resource is Joe Baugher's American
Military Aircraft, particularly the F-102A and Squadron Service
sections.

We are also indebted to a number of
former pilots and ground crew who flew and maintained the F-102 at Air
Force and National Guard bases around the world from 1958 to 1973. These
retired servicemen have provided extensive details and expertise in
documenting the history of the F-102 and providing relevant comparisons
to more recent planes that our staff members have experience flying.

by Greg Alexander by Joe Yoon,

Convair F-102 Delta Dagger : The primary
mission of the F-102 was to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft. It was the
world's first supersonic all-weather jet interceptor and the USAF's first
operational delta-wing aircraft. The F-102 made its initial flight on Oct.
24, 1953 and became operational with the Air Defense Command in 1956. At the
peak of deployment in the late 1950's, F-102s equipped more than 25 ADC
squadrons. Convair built 1,000 F-102s, 875 of which were F-102As. The USAF
also bought 111 TF-102s as combat trainers with side-by-side seating.

In a wartime situation, after electronic
equipment on board the F-102 had located the enemy aircraft, the F-102's
radar would guide it into position for attack. At the proper moment, the
electronic fire control system would automatically fire the F-102's
air-to-air rockets and missiles.

The F-102 project was in serious trouble, and if a fix for
the performance problems could not be found, the entire project was in
danger of cancellation.

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While eight more YF-102s (Model 8-82,
serials 53-1779/1786) were being built to the same standards as the first
two aircraft, Convair embarked on a major investigation and redesign program
in an attempt to save the F-102. The salvation of the project turned out to
be in the "area rule" devised by NACA scientist Richard Whitcomb. According
to the area rule, the total cross sectional area along the direction of
flight should be a constant in order to achieve minimum transonic drag. In
order to achieve this, it was required that the fuselage be narrowed down in
the region where the wing roots were attached, then broadened back out again
when the wing trailing edge was reached. This gave the aircraft fuselage a
characteristic "wasp-waist" or "Coke-bottle" shape. In order to achieve
this, the length of the fuselage was increased by 11 feet, and a pair of
aerodynamic tail fairings were added aft of the trailing edge, these
fairings extending beyond the end of the afterburner tailpipe in a pair of
characteristic protrusions. These tail fairings were for purely aerodynamic
purposes and had no other function. A new cockpit canopy with a sharper
leading edge was fitted, although it had an adverse effect on overall
visibility. Cambered leading edges were fitted to the thin delta wings to
improve the behavior of the thin airfoil at high angles of attack, and the
wingtips were given wash-in.

A J57-P-23 engine was fitted, which was
considerably lighter and more powerful than the previous J57-P-11. The
J57-P-23 engine was rated at 11,700 lb.s.t. dry and 17,200 lb.s.t. with
afterburning. The aircraft was lightened by reducing excess structures no
longer required by the lighter engine. The new aircraft was given the
designation YF-102A.

Designated Model 8-90, the first of four
YF-102As (53-1787/1790) was rolled out at San Diego just 117 days after
redesign had started. It was trucked out to Edwards AFB and took off on its
maiden flight on December 20, 1954. On the next day, Mach 1 was easily
exceeded, fully confirming the predictions of the area rule. It soon reached
a top speed of Mach 1.2 in level flight. In addition, the aircraft could
still keep on climbing after reaching 51,600 feet.

A milestone was reached on July 8, 1955,
when a YF-102A fired six Falcon missiles and 24 unguided rockets in less
than 10 seconds.

The retooling required by the changes in
the YF-102A played havoc with the Cook-Craigie plan for early production.
Fully two-thirds of the 30,000 tools that had been purchased had to be
thrown out and new ones acquired. Following the costly re-tooling procedure,
full production of the F-102A began at the Convair plant in San Diego. The
first production Model 8-10 or F-102A (53-1791) flew on June 24, 1955 and
was delivered to the Air Force five days later. It had a J57-P-23 engine.

In the full production F-102A, the wings
were moved aft, and fuselage length was increased by more than 16 feet over
the original YF-102. The wingspan was increased from 37 feet to 38 feet 1
1/2 inches, the wing area increased from 661 square feet to 695 square feet,
and the gross weight increased from 26,404 pounds to 28,150 pounds.

The initial production run of 40 aircraft
(production blocks -5 through -25) were all employed in research and
development work, and none entered operational service with the USAF. As a
result of the tests, some significant airframe changes were made, including
a three-foot addition to the height of the tail fin. This new tail fin was
devised as a cure for some high-speed instability problems that had turned
up during flight testing and was first tested in December of 1955. It was
introduced as standard on all F-102As built after the 25th example, and
earlier F-102As were retrofitted with this new taller fin.

Click on Picture to enlarge

The first delivery to an operational Air
Defense Command unit (the 327th Fighter Interceptor Squadron based at George
AFB in California) took place on May 1, 1956, three years later than
originally expected. The 327th FIS was activated on August 18, 1955,
initially equipped with F-86Ds. In mid-1956, it was decided that only the
2.75-inch FFARs would be used as backups to the Falcon missiles. Earlier
F-102s were retrofitted in the field and exchanged their T-214 2-inch FFARs
for the 2.75-inch FFARS. Some 170 F-102s were modified according to this
standard. In May of 1956, a Douglas MB-1 Genie nuclear-capable unguided
rocket was fired from a YF-102A. For a while, the Air Force considered
equipping the F-102A with the Genie rockets, but this project was abandoned
in early 1957.

Early F-102As had been plagued by landing
gear failures. By November of 1957, all F-102As had been fitted with
serviceable struts and a new oleo strut metering pin and the side brace boss
bearing of the landing gear was modified. In addition, a fix had been found
for the in-flight failures of the speed brakes mounted behind the vertical
fin.

The popular name Delta Dagger for
the F-102A was chosen in 1957. Between 1952 and 1957, five production
contracts were awarded for a total of 875 F-102As. The MG-3 fire-control
system was replaced in the field by the improved MG-10 in most F-102As. More
sophisticated and less troublesome versions of the Falcon air-to-air missile
were fitted as they became available. Conversions were later performed which
made the F-102A capable of launching the GAR-11 (later redesignated AIM-26A)
nuclear-tipped Falcon. Ensuing modifications eventually made it possible to
interchangeably carry AIM-26 and AIM-4 (GAR-1 through GAR-4 in pre-1962
designation schemes) Falcons in the central weapons bay.

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In October of 1957, a new wing was
introduced on the production line beginning with approximately the 550th
F-102A. This innovation raised combat ceiling to 55,000 feet (a 5000-foot
increase) and raised maximum speed at 50,000 feet to Mach 1. In addition,
maneuverability was substantially improved and low-speed stability was
markedly enhanced.

in 1957, Convair began a modernization
program for early F-102As to bring them up to the latest standards. These
changes included a larger tail, an MG-10 fire control system in place of the
MG-3, attachment points for a pair of 230 US gallon underwing drop tanks,
and provision for 2.75-inch unguided rockets in place of the 2-inch rockets
originally carried. When the underwing tanks were carried, however, the
F-102A was limited to subsonic performance.

By the end of 1958, 26 ADC squadrons were
flying F-102As, and the F-102A had replaced the North American F-86D Sabre
as the most numerous interceptor with the ADC. F-102As in service numbered
627, or about half of the total number of interceptors operated by the Air
Defense Command. At the height of its service, 32 ADC units flew the F-102A.
The last of 873 F-102As produced (serial number 57-909) was delivered in
September of 1958.

A subsequent in-service modification
program added an infrared sighting system for target acquisition, lock-on
and completion of run. The infrared scanner was mounted in a transparent
dome immediately in front of the pilot's windshield. The internal unguided
rocket armament was deleted, and provisions were made for the carrying of
later marks of the Falcon AAM such as the AIM-4E radar homer and the AIM-4F
infrared homer.

Most of the F-102As were stationed
stateside as interceptors for the Air Defense Command. However, a few were
sent overseas. The first overseas deployment of the F-102A took place in
June of 1958 when the 327th Fighter Interceptor Squadron moved to Thule,
Greenland. The first squadron in Europe to receive the F-102 was the 525th
FIS based at Bitburg in West Germany, which received 25 aircraft in early
1959. Five other squadrons based in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands
eventually got Delta Daggers.

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A few Pacific-based squadrons got F-102s,
the first being the 16th FIS based at Naha AFB on Okinawa which re-equipped
in March of 1959. It was in the Pacific theatre that the F-102 was to
achieve its only taste of combat. Aircraft from the 590th Fighter
Interceptor Squadron were transferred to Tan Son Nhut AFB near Saigon in
South Vietnam in March of 1962 to provide air defense against the unlikely
event that North Vietnamese aircraft would attack the South. F-102As
continued to be based there and in Thailand throughout much of the Vietnam
war. F-102As stood alert at Bien Hoa and Da Nang in Sout Vietnam and at
Udorn and Don Muang in Thailand. The F-102A was finally withdrawn from
Southeast Asia in December of 1969. The F-102A established an excellent
safety record in Vietnam. In almost ten years of flying air defense and a
few combat air patrols for SAC B-52s, only 15 F-102As were lost. Although a
few missions were flown over North Vietnam, the Southeast Asia-stationed
F-102As are not thought to have actually engaged in air-to-air combat.
However, one F-102A of the 509th FIS was lost to an air-to-air missile fired
by a MiG-21 while flying a CAP over Route Package IV on February 3, 1968.
Two F-102As were lost to AAA/small arms fire and four were destroyed on the
ground by the Viet Cong and eight were lost in operational accidents.

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Strange as it may seem, the F-102A
actually did fly some close-support missions over the South, even though the
aircraft was totally unsuited for this role. These operations started in
1965 at Tan Son Nhut using the 405 FW alert detachment. Operating under the
code-name "Project Stovepipe", they used their heat sinking Falcon missiles
to lock onto heat sources over the Ho Chi Minh trail at night, often Viet
Cong campfires. This was more of a harassment tactic than it was serious
assault. They would even fire their radar-guided missiles if their radars
managed to lock onto something. The pilots were never sure if they actually
hit anything, but they would sometimes observe secondary explosions.

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The F-102s soon switched to a day role,
firing the 12 unguided FFAR rockets from the missile bays, using the optical
sight. 618 day sorties were flown, the last one being flown at the end of
1965. One F-102A was downed by groundfire during one of these rocket
attacks. There were some later missions flown, especially in Mayday
emergencies when the 102's were the fastest response available in the South
(2 1/2 minutes over the fence, far faster than the F-4). During the early
1960s, the F-102A was gradually replaced in the ADC by the McDonnell F-101B
Voodoo and the Convair F-106 Delta Dart. By mid-1961, the number of F-102As
in service with the ADC was down to 221. However, by the end of 1969, with
the exception of a squadron maintained in Iceland, all ADC F-102As had been
transferred to the Air National Guard. The F-102As stationed in the Pacific
had been withdrawn in December of 1969.

The only F-102As still in service with the
USAF at the beginning of 1970 were all stationed overseas. At that time, the
USAF still retained a few F-102A squadrons in Germany and the Netherlands.
In the early 1970s, European-based F-102As were replaced by F-4 Phantoms. By
the end of June 1973, the number of active F-102As had been reduced to ten.

The last ADC unit to operate the F-102A,
the 57th FIS based at Keflavik in Iceland finally traded in its F-102As for
McDonnell F-4C Phantoms in mid-1973. As they left USAF service, most F-102As
were transferred to the Air National Guard. First to receive the F-102A was
the 182nd FIS of the Texas ANG, receiving the plane in mid-1960. By 1966,
ANG inventories amounted to 339 F-102As. Twenty-three ANG units ultimately
got F-102As, including ANG squadrons of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, North
Dakota, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New York, Washington, Connecticut, Oregion,
Maine Vermont, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, and California. A 1967 proposal to modify F-102As
into RF-102As as the standard ANG reconnaissance aircraft was deemed
infeasible and was not proceeded with.

The F-102A was not equipped at the factory
for midair refueling. However, there were some examples of the F-102A that
were fitted in the field with probe and drogue in-flight refueling probes
mounted immediately aft of the cockpit on the right-hand side of the
fuselage. These were fitted for the purpose of ferrying aircraft from the US
to Southeast Asia. The probes were removed upon arrival. Some ANG F-102As
were also fitted with these midair refueling probes.

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In the late 1960s, Convair proposed a
close air support version of the F-102 equipped with an internally-mounted
cannon. The USAF was not particularly interested and this idea got no
further than the preliminary planning stage. Large-scale retirement of the
F-102A from the ANG began in late 1969 and continued throughout the 1970s.
The last F-102A finally left ANG service in October of 1976, when the 199th
FIS of the Hawaii ANG traded in their Delta Daggers for F-4C Phantoms. Most
of the retired F-102As ended up in the bone yards at the Davis-Monthan AFB
storage facility. Many were subsequently converted into remote-controlled
drone aircraft.

Maximum internal fuel load was 1085
US gallons. In later versions, two 430 US-gallon underwing tanks could be
carried, bringing total fuel capacity to 1945 US gallons. Armament: Armament
consisted of six air-to-air guided missiles housed internally in a ventral
weapons bay--usually a mixture of three Hughes AIM-4A or -4E Falcon
semiactive radar-homing missiles and three Hughes AIM-4C or -4F Falcon
infrared homing missiles. Later installations included three Falcons plus
one AIM-26A or B In addition, twenty-four 2.75-inch unguided FFARs could be
carried in launching tubes mounted inside the weapons bay doors. In later
versions, the unguided rockets were often omitted.